Yesterday Simon declared Little David Archuleta knocked out the competition. Just when you thought you've figured it out, American Idol never fails to pull out a big shocker!

Congratulations David Cook for winning American Idol Season 7! Though David Archuleta fought a good fight, especially last night's showdown. David Cook has more "Wow" songs through out the competition. Both Davids were my favorite picks from the start, so either way I'm happy for both of them. I'm looking forward to this seasons contestants and how they'll make it after the show. Hoping they make great individual albums and or movies. This season had all the drama, excitement, disappointments and shocking moments. I love American Idol! and can't wait till next year.

My dad scheduled to come home this month, work, errands, my 1st garage sale and to top it off I have my dogs to take care of. I'm not complaining, in fact i love being busy in lieu of wasting time thinking of pointless things and persons.

We usually just give away or throw away most of the things we don't need anymore an aftermath of our cleaning escapades we have at home. Manang our house help goes home with a big smile on her face since she gets first dibs on the stuff we get rid of. This year, my cousin asked me if I'd like to join her upcoming garage sale. Since we are cleaning up the house in preparation for papa, I agreed and joined my first ever garage sale.

I only had a two days to prepare. I spent most of the time sorting my stuff which can be sold and which ones to get rid of. I brought to the garage sale tons of magazines sold at PHP5 each, figurines PHP20, unused make-up, lotions and body spray PHP50-100, old cds PHP50, cassette tapes PHP5 each, old clothing Php 50-100 shoes and sandals PHP20-100 and other knickknacks. The most items sold were cds, dvds, bags, cassette tapes, make up, sandals and clothes. The magazines were not that much of a hit, so I decided to sell it to a local junk shop per kilo.

I was expecting a hot long day but the weather was kind. At the end of our garage sale, I summed up my sales and I was Php4720 richer! I couldn't believe it. This is kinda addicting (I thought) All of that stuff I don't use anymore were turned into cash plus I got a few new acquaintances. I'm definitely looking forward to the next garage sale.

Paula's choice for David Archuleta "And So It Goes". David performed it quite well and the arrangement was good, almost had goosebumps. Randy choice for Syesha Mercado "If I Ain't Got You". Loving the sparkling gown. An Alicia Keys song is very hard to sing and not be compared to its original. Syesha tried to make the song her own and she sang it well than I expected. Mr. Simons' choice for David Cook "First Time I Saw Your Face". When I heard Simon's choice for Cook I was like hmm... interesting. I recall David C's past performances, one could assume that he could pull this song and make it his own and he did not fail. Over all, I think the judges chose safe and predictable songs for the contestants. All three performed their respective songs well making this round a triple tie.

Second Round Contestants Choice

David Archuleta choose "With You" by Chris Brown. It started okay then a bit shaky but I I give props to David for choosing an upbeat RNB song a divert from his usual mature ballad. Syesha choose "Fever" vocals were great but I wished she worked sexy sultry up a bit and the chair thing wasn't much help. David Cook "Dare You to Move". Bitin perfectly describe this performance. Just when he hits the big note it ends abruptly. Nobody out shined anyone in the 2nd round. They all made safe song choices.

Third Round Producers Choice

David Archuleta "Longer" another predictable performance. Syesha "Just a Little Bit" nice upbeat song but I felt as if the producers intentionally chose a non-interesting song for her. If they want to exploit Syesha's vocal prowess they should have chosen "Unfaithful" by Rhianna only then it would've been a more competitive piece to sing in the Top Three week. David Cook "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" One of my all time Aerosmith song. I like the arrangement they made. Staring it soft with the acoustic violin then hyping it up a bit. When I was about to get a feel of it expecting a big bang with this song, it left me hanging and I was disappointed. If I'm not mistaken Lindsey Cardinale sang this song way back season ??insert season?? and I liked her version. I'm not saying that Cooks' version isn't good but it didn't live up to the hype of the song.

Syesha Mercado has been a staple at the bottom three / two but she fought and proved us all wronng that she deserved to stay a bit longer than other contestants. With David A's established fan base since auditions and David Cook not afraid of taking risks tweaking songs to fit his stlye, it's inevitable. She has grown on me these past weeks but Syesha Mercado leaves the competition to night.

What have I missed on AI? I just finished running thru the videos I downloaded to catch up or refresh the past weeks episodes

Niel Diamond Week

This week the remaining idols sang two songs from Niel Diamond selection. From an all time high last week, this week is the most boring week for me. I didn't even bother to download the episode. To top it off this is the week Brooke White left the competition. Not that I was surprised to see her go, with the trend in Brooke's recent weeks performances she heading for that down slope. I think that Brooke should have stayed a bit longer than Jason Castro. Obviously Jason is more redundant with his performances than Brooke. I heart Brooke! Hope she comes up with a good album after Idol.

Rock and Roll Week

The not-so-rock and roll week. I was kinda disappointed with the song choices some of the idols made. I know that there are a lot of great songs to choose from the Rock and Roll era but then again its easy to say or comment on things especially if you are not in their shoes.

Syesha is blooming late ( too late?) in the competition. You could see that she was having fun with her version of "Proud Mary" appropriate hip choreography. For Syesha's second song "A Change is Gonna Come" looking elegant and sexy in a satin gold dress and sincere performance was right on the money. David Archuleta's controversial stage father and a borrowed line from Sean Kingstons "Beautiful Girls" cost AI additional royalties. I don't know if these rumors are true but there's one thing I'm sure of David As' weak performances over the past weeks. Undeniably his voice is angelic but you can't deny that variety especially in song selection is a huge factor in keeping the audience interested and enthusiastic every time an artist performs. I want the goosebumps back! ( referring to David A's Hollywood week performance "Heaven")

Finally! he should have left weeks ago, a waste of space. He is cute but I just don't like him. Terrible way to leave the competition. After the not so Marley version of "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Mr. Tambourine" lyric memory gap. A double whammy disaster! Jason is out of the competition.

I have a typical first name and that is Kristina. It could be spelled-out in different ways (Cristina, Christina, Xtina and what have you) but nevertheless it still sounds the same. For the last 2 decades of my existence, my name has evolved from Maria, tin-tin, Kristina, Kristeta, tina, tins and in an effort to be unique I finally chose a hyphenated name now I am t-na.

Mood Swings

Confessions

I always said the right things, throwing smiles left and right, ignoring "unpleasant" scenarios pretend that it didn't happen. I found it difficult to say NO, even though I really don't want to do it. To top it off, I always believed that "If I could just be nice to other people, maybe they will also be nice to me in return". Now, realizing that all of that crap I thought of is just full of shit since a lot of people took advantage of my disposition. Some of them even recognized that I was gullible and naive but instead of correcting me, they completely did the opposite. I've treasured momments of reflection and meditation, the healing of wounds. One day I'll face and conquer my demons...